What Our Partners Are Doing

Media

See what members of the media have been saying about Democracy Works.

TurboVote partner BuzzFeed produced this video featuring President Obama listing "5 Things That Are Harder Than Registering to Vote." In the end, President Obama urges users to register to vote through buzzfeed.turbovote.org.

Flaxman’s goal is to bring voting information and inspiration into the channels people already use. His organization supplied the data to Google and Facebook to answer “where do I vote?” — a question people asked 123 million times last year. Colleges offer the TurboVote app alongside class registration. And Starbucks featured TurboVote on the side of millions of coffee cups.

— Increasing Voter Turnout for 2018 and Beyond, The New York Times, June 13, 2017

To help staff register to vote, Starbucks is partnering with TurboVote; staff will be able to register using a computer or a mobile device. Starbucks also said that if staff need registration or absentee ballots sent to them, it will cover the costs of the mailings.

— Starbucks tries to get out the vote by urging baristas register, The Guardian, March 12, 2016

Democracy Works was also there spreading the word about their TurboVote app, designed to make voter registration foolproof and easy. [...] This is good for everyone but could especially help millennials whose voter registration numbers have fallen steadily since 2008. The app takes away a major barrier to youth voting: Millennials move around so much during college and first jobs, and it can be time consuming and difficult to figure out how to vote absentee or register in a new place. TurboVote holds your hand and makes the process easy.

— Disruptors Can Upend the Political Status Quo and Help Millennials Vote, U.S. News and World Report, July 25, 2016

The current political climate in our country has served as a catalyst for renewed citizen engagement across a wide range of issues. We’re witnessing it in real time, on a daily basis, and on a nationwide scale—in states of varying political leanings and municipalities of all sizes. From marches on Washington to standing-room-only community town halls, there’s no doubt we haven’t seen this heightened degree of civic participation in some time. While that’s all good and great, one nonprofit is underlining the critical importance of participation earlier on—specifically, in the voting process—and they are getting the transformative philanthropic support to help move their mission forward.

What if you never missed an election again? What if no one did? Seth Flaxman and Kathryn Peters, the cofounders of Democracy Works, are here to help.

— Rita Allen Foundation, July 29, 2016

“Most people in government are hungry for good technology,” Flaxman said. The technology that did exist could only be found in election campaigns, he said; government, meanwhile, lacked many modern tools and resources to effectively communicate with and engage constituents. What’s more, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs saw little value in pursuing nonprofit enterprises, however admirable the mission. As a result, those who understand Congress typically don’t understand technology, and vice versa. “It took a nonprofit tech startup like ours that was willing to put in the hard work,” said Flaxman.

— These millennials are hoping civic tech will get young people in the election game, Mic, August 23, 2016

Seth Flaxman and Kathryn Peters created Democracy Works to ensure that our interacting with our democracy fits the way we live now. Their signature application, TurboVote, is bringing suffrage into the digital world. A NationSwell mini-documentary.

On Tuesday morning, MacKenzie Bills’ cell phone will buzz, alerting her to a text. The message, a simple reminder, will direct the Simpson College junior to a polling place in Indianola, Iowa, just across the street from campus: Go vote.

The text isn’t from her parents, or a particularly civically engaged friend. TurboVote, a digital, nonpartisan service that streamlines voter registration for college students, sends personalized texts to the 80,000 co-eds who have registered and requested them. More than 200 colleges, including Ohio State and Stanford, have purchased access to the platform, which is free for students.

— How Tech Is Getting College Students to Turn Out for Election Day, National Journal, November 4, 2014

Whether the spectacle of this year’s presidential election will result in record voter turnout come November is yet to be seen. But with get-out-the-vote efforts like the TurboVote Challenge, many voters—both young and old—have more resources on their side to help them navigate our country’s muddy democratic waters.

— Simplifying Democracy: Making Voting as Easy as American Pie, Nonprofit Quarterly, March 25, 2016